
Game Details
- Publisher: Ndemic Creations
- Developer: Ndemic Creations
- ESRB Rating: “E10” for Everyone 10+
- Genre: Strategy
- Pros: Addictive gameplay; lots of variety; good controls
- Cons: You feel sort of dirty when you win
- MSRP: $15
Originally released as a free to play mobile game full of
in-app-purchases and paid add-ons, Plague Inc. Evolved comes to consoles with a
$15 price tag and no microtransactions in sight. $15 might be slightly steep just to avoid the obnoxious ads and
IAP of the mobile versions, but we’re okay with it. If it seems too expensive, the game seems to go on sale on Xbox
One pretty regularly, so pick it up then.
The gameplay in Plague Inc. is dead simple as it is entirely
menu driven. You first choose what type
of disease – bacteria, virus, zombies, mind control, etc. – and then decide
where in the world it will start. You
typically want to start your virus in an area with sub-par healthcare, but that
is also well connected to other parts of the world so it will spread
quickly. Then you unleash it on the
world and sit back and watch as the world map slowly turns red as the disease
spreads.
As your creation spreads you earn DNA points that you can
spend to mutate the disease to change it.
You can make it spread through the air, or through water, or through
animals, as well as make it more resistant to drugs and treatments. You can also change the symptoms of the
illness, such as making the infected cough or sneeze or vomit, as well as more
insidious things like causing paranoia and making people go crazy as they get
sicker (which makes them spread the illness to other people).
While your virus spreads, doctors are also trying to figure
out a cure. The idea behind the game is
to kill everyone in the world before the cure stops you. You have to find a balance, though, between
making the illness spread quickly while also being deadly, but not so deadly
people die before they can spread it.
It is a fun balancing act that requires you to put some actual thought
into each new mutation.
The controls work very well on Xbox One as well. The mobile version just had you touching the
screen to collect DNA points and navigate the world map, but on Xbox your
cursor automatically snaps to nearby interactive bubbles that makes it
extremely easy and fast paced to play.
The game is also fairly intuitive as the various options and mutations
should make sense to anyone that has taken high school biology.
Presentation is very simple as you’re mostly just looking at
a world map the entire time, but everything is nice and clear and easy to see,
so no complaints here.
